Leveraging freely available remote sensing and ancillary datasets for semi-automated identification of potential wetland areas using a Geographic Information System (GIS).

Details

• Creators:
  Felton, Benjamin R. ; Goodall, Jonathan L. ; Fitch, G. Michael
• Corporate Creators:
  Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research ; Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC)
• Corporate Contributors:
  Virginia. Dept. of Transportation ; United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Automated Geoprocessing Geographic Information Systems Identification Tool Transportation Corridor Assessments Transportation Corridors Wetlands
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA/VTRC 16-R21
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC)
• Abstract:
  The purpose of this study was to develop a wetland identification tool that makes use of freely available geospatial
  
  datasets to identify potential wetland locations at a spatial scale relevant for transportation corridor assessments. The tool was
  
  developed to assist the Virginia Department of Transportation in wetland identification over large geographic regions. Wetland
  
  identification is an integral part of many construction projects performed by state departments of transportation. However,
  
  current methods for wetland identification in support of these activities are lacking in one or more of the following ways:
  
  inadequate use of ancillary data, little automation, failure to leverage freely available data, excessive computation times, high
  
  expense, or the requiring of software not typically available to state departments of transportation.
  
  This study addressed these limitations through development of a GIS-based wetland screening tool with freely available
  
  data and automated geoprocessing workflows to assist in wetland identification over large geographic regions. The tool was
  
  designed as a screening tool able to identify potential wetland areas that would require further investigation by a trained wetland
  
  identification expert. Therefore, the tool was designed to minimize false negatives: cases where the tool incorrectly designates
  
  wetland as non-wetland.
  
  Application of the tool to a study region with detailed wetland delineations showed that the tool correctly identified
  
  wetlands nearly 70% of the time, produced false positives 24% of the time, and produced false negatives only 6% of the time.
  
  The tool allows decision makers to adjust the sensitivity of the wetland identification algorithm in order to decrease false
  
  negatives at the expense of increasing the fraction of the study area identified as potential wetland. The tool, therefore, allows
  
  decision makers to balance trade-offs between the amount of area requiring more detailed wetland identification and the
  
  frequency with which wetland areas are misidentified by the screening tool as false negatives.
  
  Although the wetland identification tool was shown to be effective, future studies will be required to calibrate and
  
  validate the tool further using a broader range of application areas. The study recommends that this be done by way of additional
  
  corridor analyses to facilitate further improvements to the tool.
  
  
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  106482
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:17008a258bca0f08cdb5a9ecb53b572780425f1932b51b3960e1aade0564e1a6
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/30936/dot_30936_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.76 MB ]